In driver and energy technology, voltage source converters may use switchable transistors, thyristors, insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT) and free-wheeling diodes as power semiconductors. Diodes may be optimized for small forward voltages. However, they may have a high reverse recovery charge. This may lead to high turn-on losses of an IGBT and high reverse recovery losses of a diode during switching operations, for example.